This specification relates to storage and query of web analytics data.
The Internet has evolved from a network of interconnected defense computers, to a relatively sparse network of academic institutions, to the current commercialized worldwide network that it is today. The Internet has developed into a major new medium for not just distributing information, but also for selling and advertising goods and services.
Publishers of web pages, in order to present their content in a manner that is conducive to achieving a website goal (e.g., educating visitors about a given topic, directing visitors to a specific subset of the information on the website, selling goods or services, and/or directing a visitor's attention to one or more included advertisements) often desire specific data regarding how visitors interact with a website. One source of this data is the server logs of a web server hosting a given website. Unfortunately, the information provided by basic server logs is generally limited.
Web analytics systems provide a way for publishers to obtain more detailed information regarding visitor interactions with their site. For example, an analytics provider can supply a website publisher with script code for insertion into one or more web pages for which analytics information is desired. The scripts can direct a visitor's web browser to transmit information to the analytics provider to supply a more complete picture of visitor interactions with the one or more pages than is possible using server logs alone. An analytics provider generally offers a user interface for participating web publishers to access the collected analytics data.